Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve

Behind the historic Claremont Hotel lies the Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve, a park popular among tourists for its hiking trails. Among these is the Stonewall fire trail, which starts at Stonewall Road and measures a total of .75 miles. The climb is quite steep, but once the hikers reach the peak they will be treated to a breathtaking view of San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, Oakland and Berkeley.

A part of Rancho San Antonio, a land grant in the year 1820, Claremont Canyon played an important role in establishing means of communication between Oakland and the other states. As per gathered records, it was first used when an intra-continental line for telegraph connecting the eastern states to Oakland was setup through it in the year 1858. The popular canyon was also utilized by riders of the popular Pony Express in the early 1960s as they carried mail between San Francisco and Sacramento.

Aside from letting mailmen through, Regional Preserve was also the passage way of wagons and horses between Contra Costa Country and Oakland. This went on for decades until the Kennedy Tunnel opened in 1903, dismissing the option of entering the canyon and passing through it.

It was in the 1970s when the works to create the preserve started through the initiative of the Neighborhood Association of Claremont-Elmwood and the Friends of Claremont Canyon organization; they pushed the East Bay Regional Park District to gain hold of the land.

Modern day Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve has two landholders. One is the California University, which owns around 150 acres of the upper part of the canyon and the other is the Regional Park District of East Bay, which takes care of the park that covers the middle up to the lower canyon and is comprised of more than 200 acres.

If you are up for some adventure and would want a nice view of Oakland, then schedule a trip to the Berkeley now.